Oyo Records 20.3% Decrease in External Debt in 2 years

Figures obtained from the analysis of debt profiles of states in Nigeria have revealed that Oyo state, under the Seyi Makinde-led administration, recorded a 20.3% decrease in external debt in 2 years.

The analysis which was done by Statisense, a data tech company with expertise in data analysis and market survey showed that the state’s external debt went down from $105 million in 2018 to $83.7million by December 2020.

The data also showed that Oyo state ranked lowest in the country with a -26% growth in external debt in a period of 15 years.

Further breakdown showed that in 2006, the state’s debt profile stood at $113.85 million while in 2010, the debt stood at $87.43 million.

In 2016, external debt recorded was $71.91 million which skyrocketed in 2018 as $105 million was recorded by the state.

However, as at December 2020, the amount of external debt recorded was $83.7 million, third lowest figure recorded by any administration in 15 years.

A zonal analysis of the external debt profile as at December 2020 showed that the South-West geopolitical zone topped the chart with $1.89 billion external debt recorded followed by the North-West with $836.19 million dollars.

The South-South ranked third with $742.43 million with the North-East, South-East and North-Central coming fourth, fifth and sixth with $504.96 million, $491.18 million and $307.29 million respectively.

Meanwhile, Lagos state accounts for more than 75 per cent of the external debt recorded by the South-West geopolitical zone with $1.41billion dollars external debt as at December 2020. The state has more debt than the North-Central, South-East and North-East added together.

In a similar vein, Lagos also leads the table of domestic debt as at December 2020 with N508.8bn recorded followed by Rivers State with domestic debt of N266.9bn naira.

Delta State, Cross River and Bayelsa State occupy the third, fourth and fifth positions on the table of domestic debt recorded with N266.96bn, N248.5bn and N163.2bn respectively.